People with unconventional tags embrace their monikers

Tuesday

Aug 30, 2011 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2011 at 1:45 PM

Gwyneth Paltrow has an Apple; Forest Whitaker, an Ocean; and Ethan Hawke, an Indiana. Unconventional first names seem almost standard for the offspring of Hollywood celebrities. Yet the rich and famous haven't cornered the market on them.

Michael Grossberg, For The Columbus Dispatch

Gwyneth Paltrow has an Apple; Forest Whitaker, an Ocean; and Ethan Hawke, an Indiana.

Unconventional first names seem almost standard for the offspring of Hollywood celebrities.

Yet the rich and famous haven’t cornered the market on them.

Plenty of central Ohioans have distinctive monikers, too — for better or worse.

A number for a name has sometimes been troubling for 7 Simovart, who occasionally got into fights over his name while growing up in Hilliard.

“The older I got, the more I got picked on and harassed,” he said. l Whenever he is asked about his name, Simovart is known to joke about it.

“I tell people I’m terrible at names — which is why they gave me a number. Which is pretty much the truth. Or I’ll say, ‘They were going to name me10, but I don’t like to brag, so they just named me 7.’”

Before he was married, his name presented a stumbling block.

“It’s hard to meet a girl in a bar and tell her your name is 7,” Simovart said. “ Lots of times, they didn’t believe me.”

In time, the Logan County resident developed positive feelings toward his name — partly because of its origin: During the early 1960s, while in the military, his father became friends with a fellow soldier named 7 or Sevin.

“He thought the guy, who was very talented and spoke seven languages, was pretty neat. So he named me after him.”

At age 47, Simovart appreciates how the name has helped shaped him.

“I don’t think I’d be who I am if I had had a different name,” he said. “It’s built a lot of character in me.”

Jad Busby, 25, of Columbus shares his first name with his father.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “A lot of people seem to like it.”

His grandmother created the name for his father.

“I asked her how she came up with it,” Busby said, “and she said she spelled a common name (Chad) differently.

“Many people think it’s Chad. Or some people think Jag, like the TV show. I’ve heard every variation.”

Busby definitely doesn’t mind the distinction.

“I feel fortunate,” he said. “If you meet me, you’re not going to forget the name."

Few folks seem likely to forget “Indiana,” which actor Hawke and his wife recently named their second child.

The name invites comparisons with the hero of the Indiana Jones movies — a daunting model.

Unusual or not, most names have pluses and minuses, according to experts.

“With very unusual names, teachers can have lower expectations for those kids,” said psychologist Heather Yardley of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Before naming a child, she said, parents should consider the teasing potential — a la “smelly Shelley” (with respect to all Shelleys out there).

How parents talk to their children about their names matters, too.

“It’s important to encourage kids to take ownership of their names.”

Some immigrants to central Ohio have seemingly done just that.

“I feel I have a unique name that sets me apart,” Sanjar (SAN-jar) Khamrakulov said.

The resident of Bexley has heard his name mocked or mangled numerous times since he moved from Uzbekistan to the United States 11 years ago.

“Sometimes I was made fun of,” said the 23-year-old, who works at a Worthington counseling office scoring tests for autistic children.

Some classmates called him Sandra. Others mispronounced his name “SAN-jay” because of the popularity of American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

As an adult, Khamrakulov faces mostly minor name-related frustrations: When he pays bills or calls his phone company, his name is often misspelled or mispronounced.